U-17 World Cup: Eaglets beat USA 2-0

In from Nifemi Daniel . . .
Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets began their title defence on a glorious note late Saturday night after defeating hard-fighting USA 2-0 in the opening Group A game of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.
Playing at the 48,000 –capacity Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos in Santiago, the Eaglets made several efforts to break the defence of the Americans who curtailed every advances made by the young Nigerian team.
After a scoreless first half, Chukwudi Agor got the Eaglets, record four time champions, in front after only five minutes in the second half, and usual suspect Victor Osimhen added the second just after the hour mark.
The Americans were reduced to 10 men with three minutes to go when Trusty was given a red card. But it took nothing away from a well –deserved victory by the wards of Emmanuel Amuneke.
The Eaglets take on host nation Chile in Vina del Mar starting from 8pm Chile time (midnight in Nigeria) on Tuesday, and will round off their Group A account against Croatia in Coquimbo on Friday, also starting at midnight Nigeria time.
Meanwhile, coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, has maintained that his team’s focus is now shifts towards securing a win over hosts Chile in the second group match billed for Tuesday night.
Speaking after the match, Amuneke said playing against the hosts will be a tough cracker.

Read also: Bring the World Cup home, Buhari tells Eaglets

“Our mission is to win the first game and i want to praise my players for bouncing back stronger in the second half after missing several scoring chances during the first half.
“Playing against Chile is going to be tougher than our first game because all thr fans will be right behid them but we are up to the task.
“Besides the three points, which are very important, I also liked that we kept our heads even when we could not get things going,” he said.
According to USA coach, Richie Williams, “We are obviously disappointed because of the outcome. We played a good first half, we were balanced, solid and we even created some chance that we were not able to convert.
He added that: “Nigeria scored two quick goals, but thanks to unfortunate errors on our side. We were hoping to be more effective, but we lost against a good Nigerian team.”
The Eaglets take on host nation Chile in Vina del Mar starting from 8pm Chile time (midnight in Nigeria) on Tuesday, and will round off their Group A account against Croatia in Coquimbo on Friday, also starting at midnight Nigeria time.

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